PRESS RELEASE – 26 OCTOBER 2023
With 13 World Championship medals, 67 podium finishes and 8,750 points in the FIS Brand Ranking, the HEAD Worldcup Rebels start the new season as the world’s best ski team. As is tradition, the official start to the season sees two Giant Slaloms on the programme in Sölden, Austria on 28 and 29 October. Led by Lara Gut-Behrami and Alexis Pinturault, the HEAD team will be having a say in who wins on the Rettenbachferner run.
“With Lara Gut-Behrami, Sara Hector and Ragnhild Mowinckel, we have three athletes who can race to podium finishes in the Giant Slalom. On the men’s team it is a different situation because Parallel Slalom World Champion Alexander Schmid and also Atle Lie McGrath are still convalescing and will not be competing in Sölden. Both of them are recovering well, however. Atle should be back at the start as planned for the Slalom in Gurgl,” says HEAD Racing Director Rainer Salzgeber. “Alexis Pinturault, a previous winner in Sölden, is of course one of the athletes who has the best chance. He has also prepared very well. I also hope for one or two surprise performances, by Joan Verdú from Andorra, for example. Mathieu Faivre was away from the team for a year, and I’m very much hoping that as a double World Champion and Olympic medal winner, with us he will put in a better class of performance than he did last season.”
Before the opening event of the season, HEAD invites you today to a press conference with Lara Gut-Behrami, Sara Hector, Ragnhild Mowinckel, Franziska Gritsch, Wendy Holdener, Maria Therese Tviberg, Corinne Suter, Alexis Pinturault, Joan Verdú, Tommy Ford, Patrick Feurstein, Vincent Kriechmayr, Mathieu Faivre and James Crawford on Thursday, 26 October, at 3:30 p.m. in the Freizeit Arena Sölden.
“My only focus is on skiing fast and enjoying the race.”
Last year, the Giant Slalom events in Sölden had to be cancelled due to poor weather conditions. Lara Gut-Behrami knows what it feels like to win at the season’s opening event. The Swiss athlete stood on top of the podium in Sölden in 2013 and 2016 and, in second place overall in the Giant Slalom ranking last season, wants to show that she is once again a force to be reckoned with in this discipline this season: “I’ve had a great summer without any fitness issues. In April we were in Livigno and then during the summer in Argentina and Zermatt. As always, my only focus is on skiing fast and enjoying the race.”
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Sara Hector raced to four podium finishes in the Giant Slalom last season. The year before, the 2022 Olympic Champion in Giant Slalom narrowly missed out on overall victory in this discipline. “Summer training has gone well. We were on some glaciers and also in Ushuaia. I’m looking forward to the exciting atmosphere and fast slopes in Sölden and am working hard to stay in good form for the upcoming season,” says the Swedish athlete.
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With her Bronze medal in the Giant Slalom at the 2023 World Championships, Ragnhild Mowinckel is also among the keen favourites at the opening event. “Training on snow was a big challenge this year due to the changing weather situation. Sölden is still very early in the season, but I want to give it my best, as always. My plan is to pick up where I left off last season. It was an awesome season for me. But I am sure that I can still improve my skiing,” says the Norwegian athlete, looking ahead to the new season with confidence. Franziska Gritsch from Tirol will be competing in Sölden as the local hero.
Alexis Pinturault has high hopes in Giant Slalom and Super-G
Alexis Pinturault, World Champion in the Combined Event in 2023, wants to apply his top performance to the Giant Slalom this season. The French athlete won in Sölden in 2016 and 2019, has so far claimed a total of 18 World Cup victories in the Giant Slalom, and also took the Crystal Globe in this discipline in the 2020/21 season. Last season he had two podium finishes in the Giant Slalom. “It has been a hard and intense summer, where I focused on building more strength with the same level of explosiveness. In Sölden I want to ski fast and take my performance to the highest possible level. For me it’s going to be a transition this winter with lots to look forward to in Giant Slalom and Super-G. I also have to take into account that the Downhill events might sap some of my energy. I will definitely give it my best and I intend to fight for victories in my two best disciplines,” explains Alexis Pinturault.
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Having spent a year away, Mathieu Faivre returns to the HEAD Worldcup Rebels. Due to a difficult last season, the 2021 World Champion in the Giant Slalom will have to start the race in Sölden with a higher bib number. “My aim for this race, but also for the season, is to build up confidence again and keep improving my results to achieve a much better position by the end of the season.”
Joan Verdú has been attracting attention in recent seasons. The Andorran athlete skied to ninth place in the 2022 Olympic Giant Slalom in Beijing and has already finished in the top 20 in World Cup races seven times. “The summer was really good, we spent five weeks in New Zealand where there were great conditions. We have tested a lot, trained on different slopes and at the moment the feeling is very good. I can’t wait for the competitions to begin,” says Joan Verdú. “I am looking for a solid result in Sölden. It’s not my favourite run, but it would be great to start the season with a good result. We have worked hard, so I am very confident. For the rest of the season I would like to achieve some top-ten finishes. I know that I can do it!”
“We want to continue developing step by step as a team”
In addition to Mathieu Faivre coming back to the team – he previously won three World Cup titles and an Olympic Bronze medal with the HEAD Worldcup Rebels – new additions to the HEAD team this season include Meta Hrovat from Slovenia, Armand Marchant from Belgium, and Camille Rast from Switzerland. The Swiss athlete Beat Feuz, the Austrian athlete Matthias Mayer, the French athlete Johan Clarey, the Norwegian athlete Leif Kristian Nestvold-Haugen, the Canadian athlete Marie-Michele Gagnon and the French athlete Coralie Frasse Sombet have ended their careers.
“Following the retirement of Matthias Mayer, Beat Feuz and Johan Clarey, we are in an interesting situation this season on the men’s team. When three of the top 7 in the speed disciplines are no longer there, we have a lot of catching up to do,” says Rainer Salzgeber. “But we hope that one or two of our athletes will close that gap for us. On the women’s team, not much has changed. Training in the southern hemisphere did not go well for many teams for a long time because there was too little snow at the beginning and then too much. That makes it difficult to make any predictions based on the training. Even though this is a season without a major event, there will be many highlights, such as the two Downhill races in Kitzbühel. The main objective for us is to deliver the best possible results in every single race. And we want to continue developing step by step as a team. We want to support every athlete in doing the very best they can with us. I’m pleased to get started again, so the main focus is on the sport.”
HEAD Worldcup Rebels victories in the 2022/23 season
Alexis Pinturault (FRA): World Champion Combined Event
James Crawford (CAN): World Champion Super-G
Alexander Schmid (GER): World Champion Parallel Slalom
Maria Therese Tviberg (NOR): World Champion Parallel Slalom
Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT): Downhill Val Gardena, Downhill Bormio, Downhill Kitzbühel, Downhill Soldeu
Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI): Giant Slalom Killington, Super-G St. Anton, Super-G Soldeu
Wendy Holdener (SUI): Slalom Killington, Slalom Sestriere
Anna Swenn-Larsson (SWE): Slalom Killington
Corinne Suter (SUI): Super-G Lake Louise
Elena Curtoni (ITA): Downhill St. Moritz
Ragnhild Mowinckel (NOR): Super-G Cortina
Lena Dürr (GER): Slalom Spindleruv Mlyn
Cornelia Hütter (AUT): Super-G Kvitfjell
Kajsa Vickhoff Lie (NOR): Downhill Kvitfjell
Nina Ortlieb (AUT): Super-G Kvitfjell
More World Championship medals and podium finishes by Johan Clarey (FRA), Sara Hector (SWE), Atle Lie McGrath (NOR), Stephanie Venier (AUT), Matthias Mayer (AUT), Laura Gauché (FRA), Albert Popov (BUL) and Franziska Gritsch (AUT)
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